‘Immersive’ entertainment is all the rage

Attendance is sluggish Movie and museumbut people are flocking to “immersive” shows that let them (virtually) van gogh Paintings, Tutankhamun’s tomb or surreal fantasy worlds.

Why it matters: People yearn to move away from the sofa and phone screen for a transcendent experience that allows them to move around and communicate without being tethered to a theater seat or a virtual reality headset.

Push news: The unexpected popularity of the six competing immersive Van Gogh exhibitions sweeping the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic has helped open the floodgates for similar exhibitions, making world-class arts and crafts more accessible and engaging.

• Advances in projection mapping have allowed filmmakers to create dazzling spectacle.
• “You walk in and it’s like you’re in another world,” says Gilles Paquin, CEO of Paquin Entertainment Group, the “Immersive King Tutankhamun’ just launched in 14 US cities. ‘It puts you in zen, a place of calm. “

what happened: Production companies that specialize in concerts and stage shows are now scrambling to open immersive entertainment divisions — in part because the original “immersive Van Gogh” made a lot of money.

• Lighthouse Immersive, the company behind “Immersive Van Gogh,” reported that more than 5 million tickets were sold between February 2021 and May 2022, indicating that 1 in 90 Americans purchased tickets, ” according to Artnet News.
• Lighthouse’s Van Gogh exhibition grosses $250 million, MarketWatch Report – Does not include $30 million from the gift shop.

now you too can wander Passed works monet and Klimtand Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera.

• Other Immersive Experiences – Some Mimicking Abstract Weirdness meow wolf — including outdoor Lumina Night Walk and indoor performances such as between_a “Fantasia”-like display, has just been tested in New York City.
• between_ Featuring a “sound bath” and an interactive light tunnel, with bubbles that are released as guests progress.
• “Hopefully in the future, the bubbles will be filled with mist and smells,” said Ryan Nelson, co-creator of the show. “It’s going to be a really nice olfactory experience.”

Trends are hitting airports And the transfer station: a new Install Newark Liberty International Airport designed by Moment Factory “Color Bath” Shinjuku Station in Tokyo and multimedia entertainment At Los Angeles International Airport.

• Some programs – such as super realwhich played Last summer’s landmark Cunard Building in lower Manhattan — capitalizing on the architectural uniqueness of its site.

What are they saying: when the van gogh show hit the air Paris In 2019, “I don’t understand how you can put on a very successful immersive exhibition in a market that has all the greatest museums in the world, and then I realize, if you will, it’s a new art form ,” Paquin said.

• Moment Factory general manager Jamie Reilly explained that immersive performances transform the audience from passive to active participants.
• “You blur the line between the real and the surreal, the digital and the physical,” she told Axios.

Yes, but: Critics and viewers called some shows bland, cheesy and expensive.

• The New York Times critic said Van Gogh demonstrated “distilling French painting at the end of the century into a recreation as charming as a baby carriage” laugh at.
• daily beast ask “Monet’s Garden”: “Can it really embody Monet’s miracle?”

Bottom line: A show that blends art, music, and an upbeat vibe is perfectly in tune with today’s zeitgeist of wellness, mindfulness, and mental wellness.

• “We really encourage people to put their problems behind them,” says Nelson of Inter_, which is run by a company called Jobi.
• “We wanted to create an experience that gave people a reason to get out of the house and connect with each other.”